Chapter 3 - Secrets in the Static
The next morning brought a heavy, suffocating silence. Daniel didn't go to work; he sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at his cold coffee. I tried my best to keep Lily entertained, turning on the TV to distract her from the missing teddy bear.
"Mommy, where did Grandma's bear go?" she asked around noon, looking up from her coloring book.
My stomach dropped. "Oh, sweetie, remember I said it might be a little broken? The eye looked a bit loose, so I gave it to Uncle Aaron. He’s taking it to a special toy doctor to fix it up perfectly for you."
"Oh. Okay!" Lily said, easily satisfied, before returning to coloring her picture of a green dragon.
Just as I let out a breath of relief, Daniel’s phone began to vibrate on the table. The caller ID read: Mother.
Daniel froze. He looked up at me, panic flashing in his eyes. I rushed over, pressing my hand against his shoulder. "Answer it, Daniel. Remember what Detective Miller said. Act normal."
He swallowed hard, tapped the screen, and put it on speakerphone. "Hello?"
"Daniel, darling!" Margaret’s voice echoed through the kitchen, dripping with a sweet, syrupy affection that made my skin crawl. "We saw the package arrived yesterday! Did little Lily like her birthday surprise?"
Daniel cleared his throat, trying to force a casual tone. "Uh, yes, Mother. She opened it last night. It was very... generous of you."
"Oh, I knew she would love it!" Margaret chirped. There was a brief pause, a tiny pocket of dead air that felt incredibly heavy. "Is she playing with it right now? I’d love to hear her voice. Put her on, will you?"
I shook my head vigorously at Daniel, mouthing the words: No, don't.
"She’s actually watching a movie right now, Mom, and she’s pretty engrossed in it," Daniel lied smoothly. "Can she call you back later?"
"Oh, nonsense, it only takes a second. Just bring the bear to her, I'm sure she’s holding it," Margaret pressed, her tone shifting slightly, a sharp edge of insistence cutting through the sweetness. "Arthur and I just want to see—I mean, hear—how happy she is."
"I said later, Mother," Daniel said, his voice hardening despite his best efforts. "We have a busy day today. I’ll call you tonight."
Before she could protest, he hung up the phone and slammed it face down on the table. "She knows," he whispered. "She was trying to see if the camera was working. She kept saying 'see' instead of 'hear'."
May you like
Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed. It was a text message from Aaron: Miller traced the data stream. The bear was transmitting to a premium cloud storage account registered under Arthur’s name. But that’s not all. The camera has infrared night vision and high-definition audio. They weren’t just looking at Lily during the day, Claire. They were planning to watch her sleep.
I dropped my phone onto the counter, a wave of pure, unadulterated nausea washing over me.
